Léon De Bruxelles

This place is great! We came here after the theater and were thoroughly satisfied. We had 2 great recommendations on Belgian beer and 2 mountains of mussels! Very nice service (especially for London) and great prices. Such a good experience, would definitely like to come back again.

This place used to be an All Bar One, around a year or two ago it changed into this UK branch of Leon De Bruxelles, which has a lot of branches in Europe.
Early last year, whenever I walked past it the place was like a ghost town. They did a big promotion in September 2013 inviting the press and locals to try out their food and drink for free at lunch and I picked up one of their flyers coming out of the station.
When we arrived, we were invited to nibble some fruits and sweets from the chocolate fountain, the Leon De Bruxelles mussels, fries, and drinks were given out freely, and after lunch you could also pick up a pancake outside.
The white sauce was delicious, and the mussels were of a small size but had a good texture. The fries were fried in a lot of oil but they drained it sufficiently to make it quite addictive, although bad for your health.
If you go there now, I would definitely recommend the promotional menu where you get mussels, fries and a half pint of their house beer which is the same as you would get in Belgium. If you wanted another pint of the beer, you might as well ask for the same meal again as the beer is served in half pints and not in pints, this would give you value for money (as you get more mussels for the same price! Ordering the beer by itself is NOT cheap).
I went back again with family and friends for another occasion and once again, cannot fault the food. Nowadays when I walk past I always see a lot of people inside, although it seems to me they are mainly tourists and pre-​theatre goers.
The place is big enough to hold big groups and if you like private dining spaces this is the place to go as the back of the restaurant has some nice cubby holes for huge groups.
Staff attention is not quite there, they seem to be very busy and there is not enough staff around. Otherwise, the price is quite good if you only eat from the promotional menu.

The first time I went to Leon’s was in Paris and thought it was amazing. I was hoping to relive the experience but perhaps its because my friend and I had a voucher and had to order off the set menu. The mushroom soup we had to start was okay, reminded me of the ones you get at Sainsbury’s in the deli section. Now the moules frites. We had the plain ones and they were fresh but I really didn’t dig the sauce. I usually get the provencale — which might’ve been a better choice. The chocolate cake was also a little underwhelming.
This place does have a bit more charm that Belgo’s but I think the food is def much better there.

This is a branch of Leon de Bruxelles in Brussels which I think I visited in the past on a trip to Brussels.
Enjoyed a quick pre-​theatre meal here. We didn’t have much time and let the waiter know. They were great in responding and brought the food pretty quickly.
The menu is pretty straightforward with standard classics with variations on mussels and some fish and simple fish and meat dishes. The restaurant itself has a no nonsense interior with some Belgian touches.
I sampled the fish soup which was fairly decent and then the mussles + fries with white wine and crème fraîche sauce which was OK. Decent portion size but the small side of frites was sub par (from the freezer bag), just like Belgo’s now has.
Compared with Belgo’s down the road the standard of food is probably similar but a touch more traditional but a quieter, less boisterous option than the beer cavern of Belgo and without the silly monk outfits on the waiters.
Prices are OK, not cheap not too expensive and service was prompt. A reasonable dining option for the Covent garden /​Charing Cross Road area.

Ich war vor zwei Wochen da und wir tranken einen Weisswein. Nachher fragte ich eine Mitarbeiterin nach dem Weg. Sie war so unhofflich wie ich es noch nie erlebt habe. Sie hat damit angefangen (ohne mich an zu sehen) zu sagen dass sie es nicht wusste, und dann wusste sie quasi nicht was ich meinte, hat dann aber verstanden dass es sich um Soho handelte, ganz in der Nähe. Und hat gewinkt mit der Hand. Als ich mich beschwerde bei ihrem Chef sagte er einfach dass er es nicht mitgekriecht hat. Es war unglaublich. Ich gehe NIE wieder hin.
Zero Sterne! und weil da snicht geht: nur einen.

The atmosphere may not compare to the industrial chic of the Belgo empire, but the curry mussels are unparalleled.

Had the provencale mussels. Perfectly cooked, came to the table in a little cast iron pot that kept them hot right through to the end. Crusty bread for dipping and a cup of crunchy french fries. Good portion size, good prices, good service, thinking of going here again tonight.

Oooh quick! Try this soon! Moules and Frites are half price until the end of February.
There is a small menu, full of mussels and other Belgium specialities… We tried the Ardennaise mussels (with bacon and mushroom), the mussels with roquefort and the mussels with madras curry. We each received a huuuge bowl full of yummy shellfish — so no complaints about the portion size! I thought the Ardennaise mussels were okay… but to be honest, maybe not quite as good as Belgos.
For those of you that don’t fancy mussels, the steak looked goooood… but the fish and chips was less impressive. I would quite like to try the ‘flemish carbonnaide beef’ if I go back!
The staff were sweet, if maybe a little enthusiastic about trying to get us to order more wine! The only really dodgy thing were the loos! In the ladies, only one out of five was working. (Eep!)
We used a taste London card to get 50% off… so it was a bargain. I’d go back… but maybe not without a taste card.